Intimations of Anarchic Libertarianism in the Shmoneh Esrei

I’ve already gone into how and why I don’t say את צמח דוד in my personal Shmoneh Esrei (silent prayer of 18 blessings). This is the bracha (blessing) for the Davidic monarchy, which I don’t want so I don’t pray for it. The blessing is an addition over the original, which makes the original 18 a new 19, according to the Yerushalmi Talmud.

I’ve also said that anarchy did exist in Jewish history, and it was the most peaceful period of Jewish history ever. That was the time of the Shoftim, who were popularly chosen and sanctioned by God, with no other government or taxes to speak of. There was not even a tax-funded army during that period. It was nearly perfect, as perfect as human history can be. There were a few skirmishes, but nothing compared to the constant wars of the period of the Kings, and no civil wars either.

Read the book and it is misleading, because it covers the skirmishes only. But between each story there is a single pasuk that says, וישקט הארץ שמונים שנה, or sometimes ארבעים שנה. Meaning, the land was quiet for 80 years, or sometimes just 40. Can you imagine that? 80 years of pure absolute peace? Nothing to write about, nothing to talk about, just live your life, worship God, enjoy your friends and family, celebrate the holidays, just live life? 80 years back then is 2 lifetimes. 3 generations. Imagine no wars for 3 generations, no taxes, nothing. Unbelievable.

I’m often challenged that if I love small government then why not move to the wilderness? The answer is because I love capital equipment more than small government. If I have capital equipment that can produce 10x and the government takes 5x, I’m left with 5x. If I’m in the wilderness with no capital equipment and I can only produce 1x with my hands, then I only have 1x. Therefore, I’d rather live in a big government society with more capital equipment than in an anarchy with zero.

But if someone would give me a time machine to go back to one of those 80 year periods during the Shoftim, wow would I be tempted to actually push the button and spend the rest of my life there, despite less capital. If I could take my family and they agreed, I may do it. Fantasyland yes, but a principle.

I yearn for the period of the Shoftim to return. That is what I want, that is what I long for.

Thank God it is now Aseret Yemei Teshuva (the Ten Days of Repentance) because it forces you to pay more attention to what you’re saying. There is one bracha that changes slightly during the 10 days, and that is השיבה שופטינו, or “Restore our judges.” The end changes from “Blessed is the King who loves righteousness and justice” to “Blessed is the King of Justice.” So you have to slow down when you get to it so you don’t say the normal formula.

Restore our judges as in the earliest times, and our counselors as at the beginning. Remove from us sorrow and pain, and reign over us – you God alone – with kindness and compassion, and make us just through your justice. Blessed are you God, the King of Justice.

For some reason on Motzei Shabbos (the end of the Sabbath) last night, something clicked. This is a prayer for the restoration of the period of the Judges. Not the monarchy, the anarchy, the Judges. It is so clear now. The “judges” in the blessing are not some Rabbi who sits on a Beis Din (court) under David. It’s talking about the period of the Shoftim, that period when there was no king at all. No government in charge of defense, and no government in charge of justice. Both defense and justice were private industries back then.

The evidence is in the language of the Bracha – the “earliest times” – before a king. That only God should reign over us, alone, meaning no king. Counselors, voluntary, not kings. This is now my favorite bracha. I will say it with extra kavana now. It only took me 20 years or so of saying it to figure this out.

To all the monarchists out there, yes, David is mentioned too in the Shmoneh Esrei. There are both minarchic and anarchic sources in Judaism. We pick what we prefer. If what we need is a privately funded Davidic figurehead to rally the people, which I see as very possible, then fine. He can have a donated throne. I’ll donate it. But no taxes.

That’s as far as I’ll go with a request for the return of David’s line.

5 thoughts on “Intimations of Anarchic Libertarianism in the Shmoneh Esrei”

[[Your sorrow is so intense He has to feel it too.
He will talk back with you again to tell you how to find what you lost or just give it to you. I know He will.
I can’t say He will do this for everyone because many people truly wanted just to ride God, early on, from prehistoric myths and legends not just modern religions. But God never punishes through war. War is a stupid trick for the false moralists who only seek power. So they will come over you because the relationship with Him will not be so ..pleasant. So He will have to protect you because if He lets you protect yourselves then king/govt, army and taxes come with the territory and your haven falls to pieces. You can’t do it alone which is what the world is trying to trick you to try.
Your sadness protects you too because people in general prefer not to be sad and freak at sadness.
The reason why people freak and take offense at what other think is because they covet being empowered over others. There is no such thing as good intention wanted to be shared so much, out of the purity of that intention, from human to human, that bullying actually hides love. God alone, or, Gods alones, can hide love under meanness, but people are what you get when mean things happen.
Being sad you can drown the sailors who come to rob you.
Being sad you can fit in through the narrow gates to God.
I consider sadness a different feeling than melancholia, self-bitterness, worrying, stress. Many people imply these four instead, no matter what cult objects they use, or books, or words, let world be the world. Or, like in other words: let evil be. God will silence evil, don’t expect evil to silence evil. Some things are impossible.]]

In I sam 8, The forefathers requested a king to rule, instead of G-d ruling over Israel.
G-d made it very clear what that king would do to Israel in verse 11-18. And verse 19 is the Israeli response.
And the period you long for(Shoftim) was never repeated in all of history.
Amazing how far reaching and the great impact our decisions have on future generations.
Also the forefathers response at Sinai in Exodus 20:15-18. They did not want to hear the voice of G-d, and Israel has never heard His voice again.

I use that nussach thanks to you. Yes, my thinking is that it says David should have a chair. I said I’d donate the chair. You scared me when I saw all the comment emails in a row. I thought I was being spammed by holocaust deniers. They’re after me now for “believing the gas chamber stories”. I was relieved it was you.